Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi has branded Marc Marquez dangerous and admitted he is ‘scared’ to be on track with him.

Rossi believes the current MotoGP king is destroying the premier class of motorcycle racing after he collided irst Aleix Espargaro in today’s Argentine MotoGP and then an incident with Rossi saw The Doctor crash. Marquez was handed three penalties in total after not going to pitlane after stalling on the grid.

“He is destroying our sport because he don’t have any respect for his rivals, never. If you take for example, what’s happened this weekend, it can happen to anybody, you can make a mistake in braking, touch the other guy, it’s racing but from Friday morning, he make this with Vinales, Dovizioso, with me on Saturday morning, and in the race he go straight to four riders,” said a clearly angry Rossi at the track.

“He do purposely, is not a mistake. He point between the leg and the bike because he know he don’t crash but you crash. He hope that you crash. So if you start to play like this, you raise the level to a very dangerous point. This is a very dangerous sport and could finish in a bad way.

“Is a dangerous situation. I hope what I say to Mike Webb (MotoGP Race Director), they have to do something so Marquez don’t behave more like this. This year the first corner in Qatar he touch Zarco, Dovizioso. He is entering the corner 20kph faster, no way to make it.

“This is him, in the last 15 races he is like this. He try always to make you scared and to put you out of the track. I’m scared on the track when I am with Marquez, because I know he come to me, I know already. You have to hope you don’t crash.”

Marquez did go to Rossi’s garage to apologise, which Rossi branded ‘a PR stunt’. “He do it with his management in front of all the cameras. He doesn’t have the balls to come to my office. And I hope he doesn’t try.”